Monday, January 10, 2011

what a joy!

This email came my way a few days ago, and I just had to share it with y'all. I read it to my class this morning, and they were ecstatic, especially when they heard that one of the new schools is in Mexico. :) Enjoy! God is so good!

Dear Jessica,

On behalf of Franklin Graham, thank you so much for the recent gift from your students to help with our School Construction Projects. We loved hearing about all the creative ways the students raised funds, and we know they must have been thrilled to reach their goal of $250. I am glad to tell you more about these projects and where we have work underway.

Samaritan's Purse works in many developing nations to provide school facilities and educational opportunities for children. In northern Vietnam, we discovered there were few schools for the Hmong people. In the past 5 years, we have built 33 primary school buildings as well as several kindergarten classes. In Ethiopia and the Darfur region of Sudan, we have constructed and furnished temporary classrooms so that children displaced by conflict will not fall behind in their studies. After a devastating cyclone struck Myanmar in 2008, many schools and other buildings were destroyed. Local agencies do not have the capacity to rebuild, so we stepped in to help provide schools for communities who lost their buildings in the cyclone.

In the coming months, we plan to begin school construction projects in Mexico, Liberia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In a small community near Villahermosa, Mexico, we are planning to construct a new school building, and in a rural community deep in Liberia, we are preparing to construct a small school building. A church partner in the Democratic Republic of Congo has started an outreach to young children by running a preschool, and we will help the church replace their small thatched building with a more permanent structure.

Thank you again for helping to coordinate this gift from your students. If anyone has additional questions, feel free to contact me again and I will be glad to share some more information about how this project is helping to transform people’s lives. May God continue to bless you as you seek to bless others.